年ふれば我が頂に置く霜を
草の上とも思ひけるかな
草の上とも思ひけるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Toshi fureba waga itadaki ni oku shimo o kusa no ue to mo omoikeru kana
- English Translation
-
As the years go by
the frost that settles upon
the crown of my head,
I had always thought it lay
only on the grass outside
- Meaning
- As the years passed, the frost that settled on the crown of my head I had thought was only frost lying on the grass.
- Commentary
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Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 569
The frost of white hair that has settled on his head with the years, the poet says, he had thought of as frost lying on the grass, something unconnected to himself. Likening white hair to frost, he expresses surprise and feeling that the old age he thought was others' affair had quietly come upon him.
The author, Nakazane, is Fujiwara no Nakazane. A son of Fujiwara no Yoshinari, he served as Governor of Echizen among other posts and was one of the poets of the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequences.
First line, 'toshi fureba', means as the years have passed, the realis followed by ba expressing a settled condition.
Second line, 'waga itadaki ni', means on the crown of my head.
Third line, 'oku shimo o', means the frost that settles, likening white hair to frost.
Fourth line, 'kusa no ue to mo', means as frost on the grass, contrasting the crown of the head with the grass.
Final line, 'omoikeru kana', means I had thought so, the attributive of keri followed by the exclamatory kana, closing on the realization of age.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Nakazane
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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